Elon makes it two in a row with Thomas

Thursday

While on its way to back-to-back appearances in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs, Elon has gone back-to-back in claiming one of the Colonial Athletic Association’s top prizes.

Elon freshman running back Jaylan Thomas picked up the league’s Offensive Rookie of the Year award this week, recognition that comes one season after Elon quarterback Davis Cheek earned the honor in 2017.

Despite missing a stretch earlier in the season due to an ankle injury, the darting Thomas has rushed for 723 yards and four touchdowns in seven games, his averages of 103.3 yards per game and 7.3 yards per carry leading the conference in both categories.

Thomas took over as the starter for the Phoenix last month after Malcolm Summers was lost to a season-ending hamstring injury, and ran for 372 yards during his first two starts, including a 222-yard performance in Elon’s victory against Rhode Island, the best rushing output by a CAA player this season.

Towson quarterback Tom Flacco (Offensive Player of the Year), James Madison cornerback Jimmy Moreland (Defensive Player of the Year), Maine’s Joe Harasymiak (Coach of the Year), Towson returner Shane Simpson (Special Teams Player of the Year) and Villanova cornerback Christian Benford (Defensive Rookie of the Year) joined Thomas as the conference’s major award recipients.

Elon linebacker Warren Messer and offensive linemen CJ Toogood and Oli Udoh, a trio of seniors, were All-CAA first-team selections in the voting done by the league’s 12 head coaches.

Messer repeated as a first-team choice, becoming the first Elon defender to receive all-league first-team honors in consecutive seasons since Chad Nkang in 2005-06, when the Phoenix played in the Southern Conference. Messer ranks third in the CAA in tackles with 86, and has collected four sacks and 10 tackles for lost yardage.

Toogood and Udoh are part of an offensive line that has helped Elon lead the CAA in rushing with 214.4 yards per game. Elon rates second in the league in both rushing touchdowns (21) and sacks allowed (16).

Summers, the former Eastern Alamance standout, ran for 591 yards in five games before suffering a torn hamstring for the second year in a row. At the time of the injury in October, his 118.2 rushing yards per game led the league and ranked among the best per-game averages nationally in the FCS.